When growing carrots, many face the defeat of root crops carrot fly. This leads to the fact that the carrot loses its taste, becomes woody and it is impossible to eat. Therefore, for truck farmers who have encountered this pest, the most urgent question is: what scare off the carrot fly?
Description of the carrot fly
The fly passes through the following stages of development:
- A larva develops from the laid egg. It is shiny, light-yellow in color, and has a worm-like shape. Has a front pointed tip. The appearance of the larva occurs 5-7 days after the laying of eggs. They get into the root crop and eat for about a month.
- A fly emerges from the larva. It is characterized by a length of 4-5 mm. Head brown, black shiny abdomen, transparent wings, which are located horizontally on the back.
- Pupary is the phase of the pupa, which lies in the soil for the wintering to a depth of 6-25 cm. The percentage ratio of successfully overwintered pupae is very high.
Carrot fly and the fight against it
To effectively combat the carrot fly, you need to know the moment when it appears. The appearance of a fly on light occurs at a time when the soil is sufficiently heated at a depth of 5-10 cm. Its temperature should reach 16-18 ° C. After 25-30 days after the emergence of shoots of carrots, the phase of the appearance of the first two real leaves comes. Usually this happens in the second half of May. It is this time that is the beginning of the laying of carrot fly eggs. This process lasts throughout the summer.
Fighting a fly requires a lot of effort. This is due to the duration of the time interval during which insects can lay eggs. Therefore overlapping each other of different generations occurs. Many larvae formed in the autumn period remain inside the roots, which leads to their further damage.
Signs of damage to plants by pests are:
- the appearance on the leaves of a characteristic red-violet hue. Then their yellowing, wilting and drying occur;
- the appearance of reddish hillocks on root crops, and when they are cut, rusty passages made by the larvae can be traced.
Drugs from carrot fly
There are the following methods to combat the fly:
- chemical;
- the people's;
- agrotechnical.
The chemical method consists in the use of various drugs from a carrot fly. The most common insecticides are:
- "Arivo";
- "Aktara";
- "Decis";
- "Fitoverm";
- "Vantex".
The treatment should be carried out in the morning or evening at a temperature of more than +20 ° C.
Folk remedies for carrot fly include the following activities:
- strewing rows between carrots, planted with tobacco dust or mustard powder;
- Spraying of plants with a tincture of garlic or onion. This method is possible at the stage when the fly begins to fly. To prepare the tincture take 200 g of finely chopped heads and insist them for a day in 2 liters of warm water. Then prepare a container with 8 liters of water, to which liquid soap is added. Tincture is filtered into it;
- tincture of needles (200 g of extract per 10 liters of water);
- spraying decoction of tomato (4 kg of raw material per 10 liters of water, boiling takes place for half an hour, then 3 hours is poured for infusion.) The resulting decoction in the amount of 3 liters is diluted in 10 liters of water).
The agrotechnical method consists in preventive measures when a carrot fly disappears. Such measures include:
- early planting of seeds (end of May - mid-June);
- choice as a site for sowing a lit elevated place;
- planting near onions, the smell of which frightens off insects;
- thinning beds, to eliminate the focus of the spread of flies;
- exclusion of manure as fertilizer;
- rare and moderate watering;
- peat mulching.
Applying the necessary measures, you can effectively fight the carrot fly.